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Shirley Jones
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Shirley Jones was raised in Pennsylvania, where her parents ran the Jones Brewery, founded by her grandfather (the brewery still produces Stoney's Beer). Named after Shirley Temple, Jones was in the church choir at the age of six, and began taking piano lessons shortly after that. Her piano teacher recognized her musical talents, urged the girl to take music seriously, and recommended that her parents get her professional singing lessons. Jones appeared in school plays, and won the Miss Pittsburgh beauty pageant the same year she finished high school, 1952. When she decided to move to New York, her parents gave her $160 for the trip. She promised to return when the money ran low, but it never did.
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Shirley Jones was born into a musical family. Her mother, Mary Frazier Jones was one of R.C.A. records's first gospel artists. Shirley and her sister Brenda sang with their mother and were later joined by younger sister Valerie. Which eventually led to forming the legendary Jones Girls. After the Jones Girls disbanded, Brenda got married and Valerie (who tragically died on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001) went to college.
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When Shirley felt the time was right, left her hometown at age 17 for the "big time," New York. Borrowing $160 from her father, she promised to return once all the money was gone. But Smithton would never see that return. Before the money was gone, the famed show-master Paul Levinton had Shirley signed to a personal contract on her very first audition.
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Shirley Jones was definitely in the right place at the right time. Rodgers and Hammerstein had been searching and auditioning from coast to coast. They wanted just the right fresh new face to play the role of Laurey Williams in their first wide screen motion picture adaptation of their hit musical OKLAHOMA!
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Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones are reunited in this second classic Rogers and Hammerstein musical. In this bittersweet love story Billy Bigelow (MacRae), a smooth-talking carny barker, falls in love with a millworker (Jones) in a little town on the coast of Maine.
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Shirley’s Grandfather, William B. Jones, founded the Jones Brewery in 1907. Her father and uncle helped run this establishment that is still in operation today. Shirley’s grandfather ... owned and operated The Jones Hotel.
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Shirley Jones